Crafting Colour Worlds in Scottish Stones

Abstract

• During the 18th and 19th centuries, Scottish jewellers used colourful stones – including agates and Cairngorm quartz – to craft luxury goods. This talk explores how the colours of these materials played a key role in shaping the design and making of jewellery objects, and in fostering new ways of seeing the Scottish landscape. Tracing these minerals on their journey from hill and coast into the workshop, the focus is on how jewellers and lapidaries sourced and worked these materials, developing new skills, driving design innovation and contributing to geological knowledge in the process.